Behringer being cheeky fucks.

[BearBoy]

Arturia are at it, 95% of their business is VST versions of other people's synths so they've got a cheek to complain.

According to the skip fire of a thread over on Gearslutz, Arturia originally released many of their VSTs under licence from the original manufacturers (Moog, Roland etc), which is why they had the proper names/logos in the software. They've supposedly been replaced with sound-a-like names since the licences expired and people like Roland started doing their own soft synths.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of that, mind.

[ekwatts]

Arturia are at it, 95% of their business is VST versions of other people's synths so they've got a cheek to complain.

According to the skip fire of a thread over on Gearslutz, Arturia originally released many of their VSTs under licence from the original manufacturers (Moog, Roland etc), which is why they had the proper names/logos in the software. They've supposedly been replaced with sound-a-like names since the licences expired and people like Roland started doing their own soft synths.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of that, mind.

I think that's about right. Their only products were VSTs (very good ones) until the last decade, where they actually began producing analogue hardware synthesizers, and I guess that arm of the business became more lucrative and so they no longer needed the licenses? I've not looked into their VSTs that much, to be honest, so I couldn't say.

Synth manufacturers are obviously in competition with each other, but most have pretty clearly defined sort of markets and, for the most part, they don't entirely step on each others' toes. Obviously, one programmable synthesizer with presets is broadly the same as another synthesizer with presets, but Korg aren't going to just make an aesthetically identical and mechanically similar copy of a Roland Jupiter and call it a Saturn or something.

Behringer are absolutely correct that the line is pretty mutable and ill-defined, but that excuse only really works up to the point at which you've very blatantly crossed it.

[lorez]

I like both companies products but I find Arturia being a bit two faced given how they ripped off Mutable Instruments for some of the voices of the Micro Freak

[BearBoy]

Émilie from Mutable Instruments issued a statement re that.

[Fakir Mustache]

Uli threatened to sue some Gearslutz users for expressing their opinion, and there's the anti-Semitic cartoon, much more to this than just copying designs.

[BearBoy]

He also got caught using multiple accounts on Gearslutz to post pro-Behringer stuff

[lorez]

Émilie from Mutable Instruments issued a statement re that.

I remember this at the time and not satisfied by Emilie's post as she was in the process of coming out about her gender and I felt needed the energy to deal with that. These words are very telling:

However, I feel uneasy when people got excited, seeing it described as a collaboration between Mutable Instruments and Arturia, because none of the technical and design choices involved in this product originate from me. I have been quite disconcerted by the private messages congratulating me for this release and achievement. I know some people have been waiting for a Mutable Instruments keyboard synth, or at least non-modular product, for a while. Well, this is not it. That’s what I wanted to say to the world. I don’t want people to associate any negative experience they could have with this product with Mutable Instruments. I don’t want people to think that I endorsed or at least authorized some aesthetic decisions regarding this product or the communication surrounding it.

With its focus on local production, open-source, deliberate lack of marketing and advertising, Mutable Instruments is an unusual company. It’s stimulating and fun, but somewhat dangerous too. Turning Arturia into an enemy – those talks of boycotts and those tweets demanding justice – is only adding fuel to the fire and increasing the risks of getting me attacked in ways I don’t expect and I am not protected against.

If you care about me, move on! I need a lot of strength and energy at the moment, and it should all be focused on finishing new products.

I'm a mutable instruments fanboy so probably biased.

It's a murky world of people being inspired, etc. I have behringer, Arturia and lots of other instruments who are either original or copied other peoples designs (or call it cloning or reproductions) as consumers we are happy to blur the lines if it helps us get close to the sounds we want. so while we might get snobs on gearsluts complaining they would be happy to spend ££££ on a Tubescreamer clone or a synth like deckards dream which costs thousands

[BearBoy]

The way I read it was that she was concerned that some people were seeing it as a collaboration when she felt she hadn’t really been involved in that sense rather than any suggestion they had “stolen� anything from her, which she said they hadn’t done. Not saying my interpretation is the correct one, mind.

You’re right though, the whole concept of “inspiration�/copying in this world is far from black and white and we’re all prepared to set our personal ethical boundaries in all sorts of different places depending on all manner of shifting criteria.